Skipton prints personal details of thousands of savers on customers annual statements in data error

News - Banking

Written by Ray Clancy

Wednesday, 03 February 2010 09:21

Skipton sent customer details to over 3,000 other account holders after they were mistakenly printed on the back of statements, the UK’s fourth largest building society has admitted.

Some 3,115 savers with the Skipton Building Society found that the account number, balance, interest paid and surname and initial of other customers printed on the back of their annual statements.

The Building Society has written to all those affected but its attitude has been criticised by some after it said the mistake was not serious and that be alerting customers quickly it hopes to avoid being fined by the Financial Services Authority.

Skipton spokeswoman Tracy Fletcher was quite adamant that the risk posed to affected customers is negligible. ‘The details on the letters are not sufficient to allow unauthorised access to accounts. Importantly, customer addresses and transaction details were not disclosed,’ she said.

‘More importantly, these are passbook accounts so the customer has to go into a branch with identification and give a signature in order to withdraw money. So although we take the matter very seriously, it is important to stress there is little or no risk of anyone making unauthorised transactions on these accounts,’ she declared.

She added that the building society has also told customers they can change their account numbers if they wish and the mutual is hoping the FSA does not impose a fine. ‘We wouldn’t want to pre-empt what the regulator will do but we think given the proactive steps we have taken and the negligible risk to customers a fine should not be necessary,’ said Fletcher.

It is not the first time that the Skipton has had problems with customer’s data. In 2008 Skipton Financial Services, a subsidiary of the building society, lost the sensitive personal details of 14,000 customers with money invested on Fidelity FundsNetwork, after the theft of a laptop belonging to an external IT systems supplier. The data included names, addresses, dates of birth, national insurance numbers and the amount of money invested, but not bank account details.

Skipton also angered customers last month when it surprised mortgage holders by announcing plans for a dramatic hike in its standard variable rate.

‘I really have to think seriously about staying with the Skipton. They claim this is not a serious breach but it all adds to worries about identity theft,’ one customer told Investment International.

‘I am pretty fed up. Okay, it could have been worse, but it erodes your confidence,’ said another.